Singapore’s factory output sees shock 1.3% fall in February, contrary to high growth expectations

[SINGAPORE] The Republic’s manufacturing output fell 1.3 per cent year on year in February, breaking its seven-month expansion streak after the biomedical and electronics clusters fell into contraction.

This missed private-sector economists’ forecasts of a 7 per cent expansion, in a poll by Bloomberg. February’s data was also a sharp reversal from January’s revised growth of 8 per cent.

Excluding the volatile biomedical sector, February’s industrial production nudged up a slight 0.3 per cent on the year, data released by the Economic Development Board showed on Wednesday (Mar 26).